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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
"The battle for peace has begun." With his world facing extinction, the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire asks for peace negotiations with the Federation -- but factions on both sides may instead ignite an interstellar war as the sun sets on a historic era. Summary Stardate 9521.6: Somewhere near the Klingon/Federation border, a giant explosion sends out a massive subspace shockwave. The [[USS Excelsior|USS Excelsior]], commanded by Captain Sulu, is caught in the wave during her return from a science mission in theBeta Quadrant. The ship survives the shockwave, and the ship´s science officer, Dmitri Valtane, indicates that the explosion occurred on Praxis, a Klingon moon. Excelsior signals the Klingon High Council and offers assistance, but she is refused by Brigadier General Kerla who states that the Klingons are in no need of assistance, and warns Captain Sulu to refrain from violating the Neutral Zone. Sulu, in disbelief, orders Lieutenant Commander Rand to notify Starfleet of the incident. On Earth, the senior crew of the ''Enterprise'' assembles for a meeting at Starfleet Command. Captain Spock reveals that Qu'onos, the homeworld of the Klingon Empire, has roughly 50 years of life left, and that he has opened a dialog at the behest of Chancellor Gorkon. The Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet orders Captain Kirk to escort the chancellor through Federation space to the peace meeting on Earth despite Kirk's protest. Kirk is angry with Spock about the whole situation because Spock knows how Kirk feels about the Klingons, and that the crew is due to retire in six months. Captain Kirk and party are ferried to spacedock, and board the Enterprise for their final mission. Onboard the Enterprise, Kirk meets Lieutenant Valeris who eventually ends up betraying the Federation. The Enterprise departs spacedock to rendezvous with Gorkon's battle cruiser, Kronos One. Upon rendezvous with Gorkon, Captain Kirk reluctantly, but formally invites the Chancellor and his staff to have dinner onboard the Enterprise at 1930 hours. Both Kirk and Gorkon's staff dine through an uncomfortable evening of accusations, Klingon translations of Shakespeare, and heavy consumption of Romulan ale. Before the dinner ends, Gorkon gives a toast to the future, his "Undiscovered Country", but he knows that there will be a long way to go. Memorable Quotes "There is an old Vulcan proverb: 'Only Nixon could go to China'." : - Spock "I've never trusted Klingons and I never will. I can never forgive them for the death of my boy." : - Kirk, recording his personal log "As I imagine this work will occupy us throughout most of the week, it would be my hope that the delegations could return to their capitals to implement the provisions of Phase One no later then the first of next month." : - Federation President "I offer a toast. The 'undiscovered country.' ''(Beat) The future." : - '''Gorkon' "The Federation is nothing more than a homo-sapiens only club." : - Azetbur, at dinner. "taH pagh taHbe' ''" : - '''Chang', quoting Shakespeare in Klingonese ""To be, or not to be," that is the question that preoccupies our people today Captain Kirk. We need breathing room." "Earth, Hitler, 1938." "I beg your pardon." : - General Chang, to the rest of the dinner table. Kirk responds to his comment. "Note to the galley: Romulan ale is no longer to be served at diplomatic functions." : - Kirk, personal log "Do you know anything about a radiation surge, Chekov?' "Only the size of my head." "I know what you mean..." : - Kirk and Chekov (both nursing a terrible hangover) "Tell me, Doctor. What is your current medical status?" "Well, aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good!" : - Chang and Doctor McCoy "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth." : - Spock "Then, quite frankly, Mr. President, we can clean their chronometers." : - Col. West, on an attack on the Klingons "Then we're dead." "I've been dead before." : - Scotty and Spock "Four hundred years ago on the planet Earth, workers who felt their livelihood threated by automation flung their wooden shoes called sabots into the machines to stop them. - Hence the word sabotage." : - Valeris, to Chekov and Uhura "What ''is it with you, anyway?" "''Still think we're finished?" "More than ever!" : - McCoy and Kirk, on Kirk's "way with women" (actually a shapeshifter) while trying to escape "Perhaps you know the Russian epic of Cinderella? If shoe fits, wear it!" : - Chekov "What took you so long?" "Kill him, he's the one." "Not ''me you idiot. Him!" : - '''Kirk' and Martia, as Martia's morphed into a duplicate of Kirk "Captain Sulu, you know you're violating orders just by talking to us --''" "''I'm sorry, Captain, your message is breaking up." "Bless you, Sulu." : - Kirk and Sulu "Doctor, would you care to assist me in preforming surgery on a torpedo?" "Fascinating!" : - Spock and Doctor McCoy "Once more unto the breach, dear friends!" : - Chang, quoting Shakespeare "I'd give real money if he'd shut up." : - McCoy, to Spock about Chang quoting Shakespeare "Come on, come on." "She'll fly apart." "Fly her apart then!" : - Sulu and Lojur, about the speed of the Excelsior reaching Khitomer "Let us redefine progress. To mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing." : - Federation President "'' Kirk, Enterprise." : - '''Kirk', after jumping on the Federation President to save him from an assassination attempt "What's happened? What is the meaning of all this?" "It's about the future, Madam Chancellor. Some people think the future means the end of history. Well, we haven't run out of history quite yet. Your father called the future 'The Undiscovered Country'. People can be very frightened of change." "You've restored my father's faith." And you've restored my son's.''" : - '''Azetbur and Kirk "You know what, Spock? Everybody's human." "I find that remark insulting." : - Kirk and Spock "Captain, I have orders from Starfleet Command. We're to put back to Spacedock immediately... to be decommissioned." "If I were human, I believe my response would be, 'Go to Hell'. ''If I were human...." : - '''Uhura' and Spock "Course heading, Captain?" "Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning." : - Chekov and Kirk "I can't believe I kissed you." "Must have been your lifelong ambition." : - Kirk and Martia, transformed in Kirk Background Information Landmarks * Although this is the final Star Trek film to feature the entire Star Trek: The Original Series cast together, only Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelley (Leonard H. McCoy) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) make their final Star Trek appearances in this film. William Shatner (James T. Kirk), James Doohan (Montgomery Scott), and Walter Koenig (Pavel A. Chekov) would later appear together in Star Trek Generations, while George Takei (Hikaru Sulu) appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback". It should also be noted that Spock, Scotty, and McCoy have appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation, chronologically long after the events of this film. * This movie is the first canon instance of Sulu's first name, Hikaru, being stated. Prior to the film, it was commonly used in the novels, but had never been made official. * This is currently the only Star Trek movie shot in Super 35 format instead of anamorphic. Cast * Rene Auberjonois' role as Colonel West was cut from the theatrical release, as Gene Roddenberry was uncomfortable with ideas that were presented in his scenes. The scenes were later restored for the home release. Auberjonois would later play Constable Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. :West wore an admiral's rank insignia, which was incorrect. The naval equivalent of colonel is captain. While the notion of a Starfleet Marine Corps had been discussed and seen in fan writings and some older role-playing games, West's rank of Colonel was the first ever onscreen hint of Army/Marine-like ranks in Starfleet and would be the only one until the MACO's were introduced on Star Trek: Enterprise. * The only actors, aside from the original cast, to appear in both this film and in Star Trek: The Motion Picture are Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand) and Mark Lenard, who plays Sarek in The Undiscovered Country and a Klingon Captain in The Motion Picture. * Rand was supposed to be the character that wakes up Sulu to inform him that Starfleet was looking for the Enterprise instead of Christian Slater. Slater was a huge fan of the show and his mother - Mary Jo Slater, the movie's casting director - petitioned heavily to get him a part. * Rene Auberjonois, Michael Dorn and Kurtwood Smith would later star together in the Deep Space Nine fifth season episode "Things Past", where Auberjonois plays Odo, Dorn plays Worf and Smith plays Thrax. Story and production * Original plans for the movie had Kirk married (possibly to Carol Marcus) and all members of the main cast scattered around to different jobs. Uhura was a radio show hostess, Scotty a teacher and Sulu a taxi driver on some backwater alien colony. Budget limitations forced to leave all this out from the movie, and the scene at Starfleet Command was used instead. * An early storyboard draft featured the [[HMS Bounty|HMS Bounty]] in spacedock being disassembled by Starfleet engineers. * An early draft of the script featured a flashback to Kirk's days at Starfleet Academy. * Lt. Valeris was originally intended to be Lt. Saavik, but the scriptwriters decided later that it was out of character for Saavik to be a traitor. Reportedly this was brought about initially by Gene Roddenberry who felt that Saavik was too popular a character to ever be exposed as a traitor. Additionally, Meyer wanted Kirstie Alley to reprise the role, but as she was at the peak of her popularity with "Cheers" at the time, her asking price was far too high and Kim Cattrall refused the role until it was renamed as she didn't want to be the third actress to portray Saavik. Ironically, Cattrall had auditioned for the role of Saavik for . * Many of General Chang's quotes and the subtitle, "The Undiscovered Country," come from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, by William Shakespeare. Chang also quotes or paraphrases "Richard II", "Julius Caesar", "The Merchant of Venice", "Henry IV, Part II", "Henry V", and "The Tempest". * Chang's demand, "Don't wait for the translation! Answer me now!" is a reference to Adlai Stevenson's similar demand of Soviet Union representative Valerian Zorin at the United Nations during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. * Nichelle Nichols objected to the scene in which the crew desperately searches through old printed Klingonese translation dictionaries in order to speak the language without the standard universal translator being used. It seemed more logical to her that Uhura, being the ship's chief communications officer, would know the language of the Federation's main enemy, or at least have the appropriate information in the computer. However, director Nicholas Meyer bluntly overruled her. Chekov can be heard explaining at the beginning of the scene that "a universal translator would be recognized". * Uhura originally had a very racist line "Would you let your daughter marry one?" (that is, a Klingon), but the line had to be cut because Nichols absolutely refused to say it. Chekov's line "Guess who's coming to dinner?" was also originally Uhura's, but Nichols considered it also to be racist and declined to say it. The line was moved to Chekov. It was a reference to "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", the first major film to deal with interracial marriage. Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier starred. * The first scene at the Rura Penthe was heavily influenced by the Bridge On the River Kwai, where the commandant of the POW camp gives a similar speech to the new British prisoners. * Martia's alien language exclamation "Fendo pompsky" became a popular gag among the crew. Used in place of certain expletives, the line was even embroidered on the inside of the production crew jackets. Sets and props * If you could see a clear picture of General Chang's eyepatch, you'd see the Klingon crest painted on the heads of each rivet. (The makeup artist painted them on for fun. They were never really intended to be seen.) * Most of the Enterprise-A sets were redresses of ''Enterprise''-D sets: ** Kirk's and Spock's quarters (Data's quarters, which were originally Kirk's quarters from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.) ** Transporter room (Enterprise-D transporter room) ** Sickbay (Enterprise-D sickbay) ** Laboratory (Beverly Crusher's office) ** Officer's mess hall (the dining room, redress of Enterprise-D observation lounge) ** Engineering (clear redress of the Enterprise-D engineering. They simply replaced the display graphics and repainted some surfaces.) ** Corridors (retouched with more metallic appearance) ::These sets had been in turn recycled by TNG from the first three movies. The TNG warp core was a complete redress of the first movie's warp plasma conduits, Data's quarters a redress of Kirk's and Ilia's quarters. Even the sickbay from TNG was recycled from the movies' sickbay. * Captain Sulu's coffee table was a bit more than a cute addition to the Excelsior bridge. Beneath it was the support for an apperatus used to shake the whole bridge set during the Praxis explosion. As a side note, you may also notice the coffee cup that broke had no markings on it like the one Sulu was drinking from moments earlier. It was such a nice cup, the prop department didn't want it damaged. * The office of the Federation President is a redress of Ten Forward. A viewscreen is located in place of the art ornament behind the bar counter, and the walls are painted with some shade of brown. The easily noticeable windows are covered with curtains, and a view of Paris first seen in "We'll Always Have Paris" is visible through them. * The Enterprise has some strange upwards-sliding doors. There's nothing wrong with them, but when they are opened they would also cut the flow of whatever is moving through the pipes running along the ceiling of most of the corridors. * One of the models of the aircraft carrier Enterprise in Kirk's quarters was built by writer Ronald D. Moore when he was 11. * By the clock over the viewscreen during the scenes where the Kronos One is attacked, the first torpedo hit is about ten minutes ahead of the second hit. * The book used by Uhura while frantically searching for a linguistic reference of the Klingon language while entering Klingon territory is actually the 1951 catalog for the "Alloy Steel Products Company, Inc.". Interestingly, the title of the modified book states "Introduction to Klingon Grammer", in which 'grammer' should be spelled as 'grammar'. Miscellaneous * Gene Roddenberry saw the movie three days before he died. * The galley scene was quickly written into the movie just to demonstrate that you can't fire a phaser on board the ship without triggering an alarm. (This raises the question as to why a phaser locker is in the galley. The answer could be found as early as "The Corbomite Maneuver." While the Enterprise is being towed by Balok's ship, Yeoman Janice Rand brings hot coffee to the bridge. Dr. McCoy asks her how she made coffee when the "power was out" in the galley. Her pragmatic answer was, "I used a hand phaser and zap – hot coffee.") * The blue food at the dinner scene was so disgusting that actors had to be bribed to eat it. Shatner did it and won $240, before throwing up. (According to Leonard Nimoy, it was chunks of lobster treated with blue food coloring.) * Spock attributes the quote "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" to an ancestor. This quote (and numerous variations) was actually used in several Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle. This could imply that Spock's human mother, Amanda Grayson, was a descendant of Doyle's, though this has never been established canonically. * On the bridge, just before the first torpedo was fired at the Klingon vessel, there were about four extra bridge crew members, one of which was already sitting down. After the first shot was fired, when everybody was trying to find out what had happened, out of nowhere there were enough bridge crew to fill about eight more seats. * During the search of all uniforms on board the Enterprise, a crewman takes off the cover of a power conduit. When he moves to put the cover down, you can see production markings on the back. * At the dining room, you can see paintings of many dignitaries, including Spock's father, Sarek of Vulcan and American President Abraham Lincoln. Another painting is of an unnamed Andorian dignitary. There has been some speculation by fans that the Andorian in the painting is Thy'lek Shran from Star Trek: Enterprise. * After the first day of shooting, someone noticed that Valeris's jacket was trimmed in gray, not red to match her red turtleneck undergarment. Since refilming would have been too expensive, it was quickly decided to just let it pass. :As was her incorrect rank insignia of lieutenant commander. Valeris was only a lieutenant. * During the Battle at Khitomer, Uhura mentions that the Enterprise is carrying equipment to study gaseous anomalies. In the beginning of the film, Sulu states that the Excelsior is also on a mission to study gaseous anomalies. It is not clear whether this is done intentionally, as the Enterprise's mission is strictly escort duty for the Chancellor's ship. * In the final shot of the Enterprise bridge crew, the helmsman's chair is left empty; symbolizing that Sulu is not present. * In the credits at the end of the movie, Uhura is spelled "Uhuru." :This final opportunity to establish Uhura's first name unfortunately was missed. * The final scene also has the characters standing in a staged lineup. The producers wanted it known that it was the last movie. * The final Captain's Log was actually shot on the bridge of the Enterprise. This, however, was the last scene shot. Instead of using a dubbed log, they recorded it live. *The Khitomer hall was represented by the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, located in southern California. * This is the first Trek movie since Star Trek: The Motion Picture to feature no footage from previous films. The bird-of-prey explosion from this film would later be used in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Generations. :On the contrary, at least one VFX shot is reused: the forward view of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)|''Enterprise-A]] inside Spacedock as she ramps up to one-quarter impulse power (the same visual was also used in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier during Scotty's "shakedown cruise" report).'' *For some unknown reason, the art on the label for the Special Features disk of the Special Collectors Edition features an upside-down closeup image of the ''Enterprise''-B from the film Star Trek Generations. *During the dinner scene, Kirk states about having Romulan ale on the menu as being "One of the advantages of being a thousand light years from Federation Headquarters." Given that 78 years later, a faster and more advanced USS Voyager would expect to take 70 years to travel 70,000 light years, one may infer that it would take far longer than a year for the Enterprise to reach the rendezvous point with Kronos One. However, he could be exaggerating being that since the Klingons are enemies of the Federation, it could seem as if they're one thousand light years from home. *During the scene where Spock and Scotty discuss that every torpedo aboard has been accounted for, as the two turn a corner, Kim Cattrall can be seen waiting to slide down the pole. This can either be a blooper or Valeris is eavesdropping on the conversation. Production history * 5th draft script: * Start of filming: * End of filming: * Screening for Gene Roddenberry (3 days before his death): * Hollywood, California premiere: * US theatrical premiere: * CD soundtrack: * Comic adaptation: * Australia theatrical premiere: * Novelization: * UK theatrical premiere: * Japan theatrical premiere: * Germany theatrical premiere: * Netherlands theatrical premiere: * Spain theatrical premiere: * US LaserDisc: * France theatrical premiere: * Japan LaserDisc: * VHS: * UK LaserDisc: * France LaserDisc: * Widescreen VHS: * Region 1 DVD: * Special Edition Region 1 DVD: * Special Edition Region 2 DVD: Links and References Cast *William Shatner as James T. Kirk *Leonard Nimoy as Spock *DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy *James Doohan as Montgomery Scott *Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov *Nichelle Nichols as Uhura *George Takei as Hikaru Sulu *Kim Cattrall as Valeris *Mark Lenard as Sarek *Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand *Brock Peters as Cartwright *Leon Russom as Bill (the commander-in-chief) *Kurtwood Smith as the Federation President *Christopher Plummer as Chang *Rosana DeSoto as Azetbur *David Warner as Gorkon *Michael Dorn as Colonel Worf *Paul Rossilli as Kerla *Brett Porter as Stex *Jeremy Roberts as Dmitri Valtane *Boris Lee Krutonog as Lojur *Iman as Martia *Katie Johnston as young Martia *Darryl Henriques as Nanclus *Michael Snyder as Crewman Dax *Rene Auberjonois as Colonel West *Eric A. Stillwell as an extra ;Unnamed Starfleet personnel *Judy Levitt as a military aide *Shakti as the aide-de-camp ;[[Unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) personnel|Unnamed USS Enterprise-A personnel]] *Carlos Cestero as the munitions man *Edward Clements as the young crewman ;[[Unnamed USS Excelsior personnel|Unnamed USS Excelsior personnel]] *Michael Bofshever as an ''Excelsior'' engineer *Angelo Tiffe as a navigator *Christian Slater as night-shift communications officer ;Unnamed Klingons *John Schuck as the Klingon ambassador *Robert Easton as the Klingon judge *Clifford Shegog as a Klingon officer *William Morgan Sheppard as the Klingon commandant *Todd Bryant as the Klingon translator *Jim Boeke as a Klingon general *Matthias Hues as a Klingon general *David Orange as the sleepy Klingon *Douglas Dunning as a Klingon (uncredited) *Guy Vardaman as Klingon officer *J.D. Walters as a Klingon (uncredited) ;Unnamed aliens *Tom Morga as the Brute *John Bloom as the Behemoth alien *Doug Engalla as a prisoner at Rura Penthe Uncredited *Dennis Ott as the Horned alien Stunt Performers *Ed Anders *Noon Orsatti as Excelsior Bridge Cadet *Scott Leva as Excelsior Bridge Cadet & Klingon shot in antigravity *Don Ruffin *Jeff Imada as stunt double for George Takei *Louis Ortiz as Excelsior Alien Bridge Cadet *Erik Stabenau *Joe Farago as Excelsior Bridge Cadet *Eddie Braun *Alan Marcus as Crewman Samno *B.J. Davis as Yeoman Burke References Adam and Eve; advocate; artificial gravity; Beta Quadrant; boat; boatswain's whistle; bridge; Caesar, Julius; Camp Khitomer; Chagall, Marc; chameloid; chancellor; China; cloaking device, Klingon; coffee; colonel; commander in chief; commandant; communications station; Concise History of the Klingon Empire, A; crew quarters; Davis (Crewman); deflector shield; dilithium; Earth; Earth Cold War; ''Enterprise''-A, USS; ''Excelsior''-class; ''Excelsior'', USS; ''Excelsior'', USS personnel; Federation President; Federation-Klingon Cold War; France; galley; Garden of Eden; gravitational unit; gravity boot; gulag; Hamlet; Hitler, Adolf; interstellar law; Introduction to Klingon Grammar; jackal mastiff; ''K't'inga''-class; Khitomer; Khitomer Accords; Khitomer Conference; Khitomer conspiracy; kill setting; Klingon Bird-of-Prey; Klingon Empire; Klingons; Klingon history; Klingon Neutral Zone; Klingon uniforms; Kobayashi Maru scenario; ''Kronos One'', IKS; Lincoln, Abraham; listening post; magnetic boot; magnetic gravity boots; medical tricorder; Morska; neutral zone; neutron radiation; news; Nixon, Richard M.; Okrand's Unabridged Klingon Dictionary; Operation Retrieve; Paris; penal colony; phaser; photon torpedo; plasma; plasma exhaust; Post, Emily; Praxis; Qo'noS; Romulan ale; Romulan Star Empire; Rura Penthe; sabotage; San Francisco; SD-103; SD-103 type; science station; Shakespeare, William; sickbay; smoking; Spoken Languages of the Klingon Empire; Starbase 24; Starfleet; Starfleet Academy; stun setting; subspace; subspace shock wave; targ; Tiberian bat; torpedo bay; torpedo launcher; United Federation of Planets; Ursva; viridium patch; Vulcan; Vulcan mind meld; warp drive; Wise, D.; weapons locker Other references ''Ahwahnee'', USS; ''Aries'', USS; ''Challenger'', USS; ''Constellation'', USS; ''Constitution''-class; ''Eagle'', USS; Efrosian; ''Emden'', USS; ''Endeavour'', USS; ''Helin'', USS; ''John Muir'', USS; ''Kongo'', USS; ''Korolev'', USS; ''Oberth''-class; ''Oberth'', USS; ''Potemkin'', USS; ''Scovil'', USS; ''Springfield'', USS; Starbase 24; ''Whorfin'', USS. Timeline ; 1938 : Hitler quoted as saying "we need breathing room" ; 2220s : Beginning of a 70-plus year-long period of what Spock describes as "unrelenting hostilities" with the Klingons ; 2285 : A Klingon sergeant kills David Marcus ; 2290 : Excelsior begins 3-year exploratory tour in Beta Quadrant ; 2293 : Praxis explodes Apocrypha * Star Trek VI was adapted into novel form by Jeanne M. Dillard. * A comics adaptation was written by Peter David and drawn by Gordon Purcell and Arne Starr. * An interesting novel and comic sequel to the events of this film, "The Ashes of Eden", written by William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, depicts a plot created by a Klingon-Romulan alliance, staged in Chal, a homeworld populated by a race of genetically-engineered Klingon-Romulans. Kirk is called there by a native of the planet, Teilani, to help her people with this crisis. External Links * * Undiscovered Country, The de:Star Trek VI: Das unentdeckte Land es:Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country fr:Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country nl:Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country pl:Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country sv:Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country